Because Durham County Attorney Chuck Kitchen has insisted on conducting a public hearing before the county changes its watershed and zoning maps, a lawyer representing Southern Durham Development has accused Kitchen of a conspiracy to thwart his client’s efforts to build a mega-development that, much like Jericho, would be located on the shores of a […]
Matt Saldaña
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Alan DeLisle seriously injured in stairwell collapse
Former Assistant City Manager for Economic and Workforce Development Alan DeLisle, who left Durham last month to become executive director of Downtown Development Corp. in Louisville, Ky., was seriously injured today when a stairwell in a historic building he was inspecting collapsed. The building’s owner, and the deputy director of DDC, were also injured in […]
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Jordan Lake developer tries to avoid public hearing, again
The would-be developer of a controversial 164-acre development project within Jordan Lake’s protected area is pressuring Durham County commissioners to forgo a public hearing for a major watershed boundary change that would affect the property, documents show. In a Feb. 26 letter (PDF, 332 KB) addressed to county attorney Chuck Kitchen, Southern Durham Development attorney […]
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Bill Kalkhof mulls City Council run
During a Thursday night interview with Kevin Davis (Bull City Rising) and Barry Ragin (Dependable Erection), on the local bloggers’ WXDU 88.7 FM show, “Shooting the Bull,” Downtown Durham, Inc. President Bill Kalkhof said that “at some point” he wants to run for Durham City Council. Kalkhof was on the show to discuss DDI’s opposition […]
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Citing ‘inflammatory language,’ George Lucier pulls out of 287(g) panel
After hosting a speech by anti-immigration activist William Gheen earlier this month–in which Gheen compared Chatham County to the Soviet Union, and human rights activists to “foot soldiers” in a battle over immigration–Chatham Conservative Voice invited county commissioners to attend a Thursday night “community forum” to discuss their resolution opposing 287(g), a voluntary immigration enforcement […]
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Bill to ban mountaintop removal coal in N.C. introduced
Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, has introduced a bill that would make it illegal for electric public utilities in North Carolina to purchase, or use, coal derived from dynamiting mountaintops in southern Appalachia. Half of the coal used to produce electricity in North Carolina is derived from the process, known as mountaintop removal, resulting in radically […]
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Obama to deliver speech at Camp Lejeune
UPDATE (2/27/09): As expected, Obama pledged to remove all combat troops from Iraq by August 2010, and leave behind 35,000 to 50,000 “transitional” troops through December 2011. ‘Let me say this as plainly as I can. By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end,” NYT quotes Obama as saying today at Camp […]
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Durham’s watershed protection leaks
The City of Durham may soon be on the hook to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to curb pollutants that drain into Jordan Lake, but for now, thanks to a regulatory loophole that surfaced recently, a quarter of the city, including most of downtown, remains outside the protection of any water quality standards. That […]
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Tweeting the Congressional address
If you didn’t get a chance to watch President Barack Obama’s speech to Congress, you can distill its essential nature–bold optimism, in the face of economic collapse–in the The New York Times‘ news analysis. Peter Baker writes of the juxtaposition of Obama’s message of unity (“We will emerge stronger than before”) and an unapologetic “philosophical […]
Posted inCulture
Channeling ‘Phoenix Suns,’ Duke out-shoots Wake Forest, 101-91
CAMERON INDOOR STADIUM/DURHAM – As Gerald Henderson and Jon Scheyer left the court in the final minute of No. 9 Duke’s demonstrative victory over No. 8 Wake Forest, they received bear hugs from their coaches for having the offensive games of their careers. The two juniors combined for 65 points (Henderson had a career-high 35, […]